MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED 2011!!!
How was yours? Ours was great. We had a wonderful morning with ALL our kids here and 6 of our 7 grandchildren here. We had baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, scalloped potatoes, wheat & white dinner rolls, etc. Our oldest, Chad had to be at work at 230pm. They had to leave a little earlier than the rest of them. It was the best holiday in 2 years. Really. Things haven't been the greatest for a couple years. I won't go into in my Merry Christmas entry. I have done some things to make changes in my life to improve things. I hope at some point, feel well enough to expound on those changes. In the meanwhile, I hope you all had a Happy Christmas & we at the Miller household wish you a prosperous, happy & blessed 2011. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! We love you all!
Barb, Rich, Tommy, Shelby, Mackenzie & our pets, Jake, Frodo, Calli, Coral.

Post It Tuesday

I'm doing a new little thing I found over at Missie's Blog "What Comes Next." She got it form ADVENTURES OF A SUPAH MOMMY http://supahmommy.blogspot.com/2009/09/post-it-note-tuesday-what-will-you-say_21.html Her blog IS SUPAH and she sends you to the link to make your own post-its. You just save them to your computer then add them to your blog entry.I have been putting REAL-LIVE post-its all over this house & on computers, iceboxes, tvs, underwear drawers, washers, dryers, microwaves for probably 20 years. YES. In this house if you see a post it you By GOD better read it!!

Have a "SUPAH" Tuesday.

News of the Day

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I have the "usual excuses." The Holidays. Kids home. Family meals to prepare & feeling generally like doggie doo most of the time. Sigh. I think it's time for a check up.

We have had a lot more cold weather than usual for West Texas. It rained & rained the day before Christmas Eve then turned into snow and snow and more snow. And stayed COLD. We had about 6" or so. Not so unusual of an amount for here, but for it to hang around a week or so...is unusual. So we had our first really white Christmas in years. It was wonderful. Not so much for the girls when they saw the POGO stick that Santa brought them. LOL My honey got me a watch I wanted & Santa brought us a Keurig Single cup coffee maker. It makes the best coffee & there are SO many varieties. I really love it.

The best Christmas gift we got was before Christmas, in case any of you missed it. We found out that our oldest son Chad & his wife Malizza are having TWINS this summer!! We have five granddaughters now. Chad's daughters-Ashley is 13, Hailey is 2; Tom has Shelby-8, Mackenzie-6, & Addi who is 3. We found out today the twins are A BOY & A GIRL!!!!!! We couldn't be happier. God knows we want healthy babies. But with all granddaughters, we are tickled blue, so to speak to be getting a boy in the family to carry on the Miller name! AND for his Daddy, Uncles and Grampas to get out all the trains, cars, and skateboards for him. Of course some of our granddaughters like all t hat stuff so they shall all have a grand time together. They are due around July 9th, but Malizza thinks she might be a couple weeks further along. That is the due date they gave her by size and weight. Of course twins can often come earlier anyway, so she thinks it will be sometime in June. :)

The weather has started it's roller coaster cycle it was on before the holidays. Warm, then cooler, then COLD, then warming up to almost nice & the descent again. LOL that's fine with me as long as we get some precipitation occasionsally, and as long as THAT isn't ICE.Well that is all for tonight. It's nearly 5am & other than napping on the couch, I haven't been to bed yet, so I'd better hit the hay. I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all and let you know I'm still around. I'll try to better about getting around to your Blogs. I go on Facebook a lot as it is a bit quicker. Take care & I'll try to keep you updated on "the twins!!" (I just love saying "the twins." LOL ) Love you all!!

Pain Pain go away

I hate to get on my blog and complain. So if you don't want to listen to me cry & whine log off now. LOL



I'm in PAIN. EXCRUCIATING,, DRIVING ME CRAZY, MAKING ME WANT TO FIND A VET WHO WILL PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY. (They shoot horses don't they??)

I'm USED to pain. There isn't a pain pill in the world that will treat MY peripheral neuropathy in my feet completely. It hasn't been diagnosed, the pain in my hands but every one of my fingers and joints in my hands feel like needles & knife cuts from fingertips to the palms of my hands. I have taken 2 pains (2 hrs early). I WANT A DR WHO CAN HELP ME & WON'T STOP UNTIL HE DOES. I have 10 tiny ulcers on one foot. Not a good sign. One on the other foot that has been open for over a year and 2 that forming on the toes the Ortho Doc was supposed to have straightened last spring. They are more curled under than they were before. On 2 of the toes you cant even see my TOES NAILS. My toe nails touch the freaking ground.

My sleep is erratic and I know that this isn't helping me. I was awake till 6:3AM this morning. Slept till about 11. Napped a little this afternoon. My other son, Chad & his daughters, Ashley & Hailey were here or I wouldn't have gotten up when I did, so I'm glad I got up.


Well for those of you who read me on FB, you've heard the news that we are going to be Grandparents again. Our oldest son, Chad & his wife Malizza are expecting again. They have sweet precious Hailey who is two & will be almost 3 when new baby gets here. They also have 13 yr old beautiful Ashley. Malizza is a wonderful, generous Mother. I love her like one of my own. Sometimes I think she doesn't think that. Well, just last Wednesday, Chad & Malizza stopped by. She'd had an ultrasound. Malizza is a nurse. As the person giving the ultrasound was looking all around & asked if the were "ready for this?" Chad said "Is it a girl." Malizza said "No--there are 2 of them!" Malizza started crying & the ultrasound tech showed them their twins. TWINS. I cannot believe it. I am over the moon. They were shocked but I think they are pretty excited. Ashley looked like she might have been in shock a little herself the next day when I saw her. So we'll go from 5 granddaughters to SEVEN grandchildren & if God chooses, maybe a grandson or 2. LOL I am just praying for healthy babies & mom. Chad is still laid off the Railroad. He is probably going to have to go to another state & work a while (the RR has nationwide seniority), so he can keep up their health insurance. We have really good health ins. thank God.

Tom's ex (the one who has his 3rd daughter) & their half sister by her 2nd husband have moved back to Texas from Arizona (where HIS family lives). I hope it the correct decision for them. Morgan got a job with an ATT call Center. I don't know what Aaron is doing.The girls enjoying spending time with their sisters. Morgan & Aaron, Addi (Tom's daughter) & Sydbee will be living at Morgan's moms, with her Mother, and Morgan's 4 siblings that are live at home. Morgan is also pregnant with her 5th child. I hope it isn't too stressful for her , being pregnant. But it will be good for the girls to be all in the same town & see their sisters on a regular basis and for Tom to be able to bond with Addison.whom he has not been able to see but once in the past couple of years. She needs to know her Father is Tom & that Aaron, whom I am certain is a perfectly wonderful person is her step father. I hope my feelings don't upset Morgan, but it is the way that I feel. I would never badmouth her OR Aaron to the girls. We all have to get along so they feel loved and not pulled in one direction or another. I am praying this is all a part of God's plan. I know Morgan has always hated being away from her TX family (who doesn't hate being away from their family?). I hope this brings her peace & helps her have a healthy pregnancy.

Maybe all I needed to do was sit & put word to paper. If you can call blogging that. I am beginning to feel better or all the meds are starting to kick in. The only thing that is absolutely killing me is my head. I KNOW in my head that colds only lasts a few days to a week generally. Well, I feel like I am going on week 4 of a cold. I was really thinking I had it beat a few days & I'll be darned if I didn't wake up coughing & sneezing yesterday morning. And it was worse this morning. Kenzie had strep last week. She's on antibiotics. I hope none of the rest come down with anything this week. I just can't get as sick as i did last year. I can't go through THAT again.



My DVR is almost full & that annoys me. People tell me to DVR something for them, then they never come in to watch it. I DVR a lot of the shows I watch, especially in the shank of the evening with the girls getting their baths & getting ready to bed. You'd think they'd be winding down after a hard day at school or at play, but it seems they get this BURST of adreniline about 30 min before time to bed down. Kenzie has lost her first two baby teeth. She looks so precious. They are off a couple weeks for Christmas break. We will do a lot of coloring.
I've found the perfect way to get them brush their teeth appropriately longer. I tell them it's a contest to see who can get their teeth the whitest! Of course one girl wins every other night or so. Maybe even 2 nights in a row.Tonight it was a tie. They thought that was perfectly hilarious. Shelby is going to need braces & probably should be seeing the Orthodontist NOW. Robin (daughter) started going to the Orthodontist when she was 7 yrs old (Shelby is 8) & kept going till we was ohhh, I think 17.

We had all the kids & spouses over & some friends of ours, Friday night. It's been a tradition for years and years. Since our kids were all little. Last year was my year, but I had just gotten out of the hospital & there was no way i could get the house clean & cooking done. My dear friend, Rita said we'd do it at her house & do all the cooking. So this yr was my year. I fried chicken wings & tenders-left one batch plain, one BBQ, & one Buffalo style. Cocktail smokies in a crescent rolls. Tom took a sheet of mozarella cheese, laid it out with pastrami, salami, & re-hydrated sun dried tomatoes. Rolled it up jellyroll fastion this sliced them. Cruiditie tray with ranch dip. Baked a ham & some frozen rolls to make Ham slider sandwiches. Rich made 3 types of babyback ribs. Baked beans. I made a batch of peanut brittle & chex mix & Tom made choc covored pretzels. For dessert we had a Cheesecake factory cheesecake, a red velvet cake. Rita brought this pecan pie type dessert. I have GOT to get the recipe for that. It was a huge hit. WAY too much food. We sent home leftovers with everyone & have been eating ham all week. It was awesome. I got it at Sam's. It was a Member's Mark Boneless Spiral Sliced ham that came with it's own glaze. I cooked it in the crockpot. YUMMY. Best ham I have ever bought I think. I bought one for ham also & have a small turkey. I don't know if I will make both of them. I had enough food for the neighborhood. I honestly should have started knocking on doors & telling people to come eat!!!

I'm mostly done with Christmas shopping. Haven't wrapped a single gift. Helped box them up & my salvation, Tommy wrapped them. I don't know what I would do without him. When he moves out...whatever will I do. Oh I didn't mention...he's enrolled in school since he is still laid off the RR. He'll start next month. I think he is looking forward to it. I am so excited for him.

I got my last Christmas card written about 5a.m. today, then caught the end of a movie called Lakeview Terrace. Samuel L Jackson has an interracial couple move in next door to him and he DOES NOT LIKE IT. He played a divorced cop with a lot of psychosis. It was pretty intense 7 i couldn't go do bed even though it wasn't over till 6:15am!!

Well, it's just a few more days till the Jolly fat man in the red suit arrives. Do you have traditions that are special in your family at this time of year? I'd love it if you'd leave a comment or a link to a blog entry, sharing your tradition. We have a German tradition we learned from my hubby's parents who of German descent. It's hide the pickle on the Christmas tree. The one who finds it gets an extra present!! I have a glass pickle ornament, though in the old days they used a real pickle! Also, we usually have Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls, bacon & eggs if anyone wants those, hot cocoa & coffee. If I cook dinner we eat a late lunch/early dinner. Please feel free to leave me a comment or a link to a blog entry & tell me about some of your traditions at Christmas.

I know I haven't been by your blogs lately. I've been uber busy & uber lazy about blogger. I will try to get by your blogs soon. Please don't think I've forgotten any of you.

Also please let's all say a prayer for those less fortunate & those grieving right now. It's an awful thing to be ill or lose a loved one but especially sad we are preparing for a joyful celebration. My dear friend, Sandra in England who had to put down her beautiful lab, Jake from illness. She is grieving so. My son's best friend, who lost his Uncle this week. My son's close friend Lauryn who is going to college here in Texas, who is taking her 5 yr old lab, Bear back to California to put him down during her Christmas break who is also dying of cancer. I know there are many more out there need our prayers. I am thankful that so far this winter I've managed to stay as well as I can. And let's remember the reason for the season as we celebrate Christ's birth.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I wish you the Merriest of Christmases & a joyful & bountiful 2010! Love you all.



And a very happy New Year!

Surprise! An Entry!

Another day, another dollar. For someone. Since I don't have a paying job. I was a stay at home Mom for most of the past 37 years. I worked a few temporary jobs. Tried my hand at owning a small business with a woman whose sanity I question than my own-and that's really saying something. LOL I think her demons are far more dangerous and damaging to other people.

I do wish I'd gotten a college education. Maybe that would have impressed upon my children how important it CAN be. Not necessarily everyone wants or needs it. I just loved learning & going to school. I wish I had. I know people older than me go back to school everyday. Not people like me.

So what's going on in your world. I haven't written in a while. Same shit, different day. Not really anything newsworthy to write about. It's just Tom & me during the day, most days-Rich is either at work or sleeping.Tom hasn't gotten called back to the Railroad yet. Not many have. Someone told them that Tom's class and the younger in seniority, probably won't be called back before 2013. He's still drawing his railroad unemployment. He is thinking about school. He HAS been painting. He has done some things I think he should put on Ebay. It's contemporary. Takes him no time to knock them out. I mean, you never know. It's exactly WHY the man should be taking more Art courses. And music. I saw one of his videos of him playing guitar & singing on YouTube & he plays at this bar on Sunday nights when they have Open Mic night. Last week he played guitar with the house band on Dire Straits, Sultans of Swing. Then the song he sang was by the Darkness. I don't know what the song was. Our daughter & her boyfriend went out there that night. She said he was like a star. Her eyes glistened as she told me how well he did & how proud of him she was. Rich & I will have to get a sitter & go out & watch him some night.

I'm SO aggravated. I had a lot more written & the "SAVE NOW" wouldn't work. I thought it had saved what I'd written & it was getting late so I went to bed. It only saved what I'd first typed. Typical blogger.

I'm not one to send out every cartoon, email, prayer, or joke that I receive in my mailbox, but on occasion I do send along a few occasionally. If I've ever send out too many then yes, I hope that you'll let me know. However, last week a got a letter from someone I thought was an Internet friend. She very coldly said she no longer wanted to receive any emails (forwards) from me. That was it. I went to check her blog & found that she shut it down and went private without so much as a fuck you very much. I always felt kind of dumb when I read a lot of her entries. She's obviously well educated & it showe. A tad cool, but I thought it was her manner. Her entries were great & I really enjoyed them. I am just really shocked. I had no idea I had inundated her with so much garbage. Oh well. People come & go. It's not like we were going to high tea every day.

The H1N1 flu is starting to make the rounds here also. My granddaughter sat next to someone in church who had it & was sick in a couple of days. Her (step)Mom, an RN, took her & had her tested to see if she had it & she didn't but DID miss 3 days of school, so she was REALLY sick. I sure wish they'd get more vaccine in. I haven't even gotten my regular flu shot but am afraid to go to the Drs office with all the sickies!

Halloween week is upon us. My son & the girls LOVE it and have already been decorating. Got new costumes. Shelby Kay's 8th birthday is the 30th and they're going to a church lock in that night. Our plans for her birthday was for her to take a friend or 2 & go to Mall, get Shelby's ears pierced, get new outfit & eat pizza at the Mall. However since the lock in is that night and I don't know how much her ears will other her, I may see if we can just do the Mall thing on another day. The next day being Halloween-still not sure about doing it on that day. It would probably be OK. She's going to be a devil-has a sparkly sequined dress...SO cute & Kenzie (6) is going as an angel. They look SO cute.
Not much else of note to write about. Big Texas Tech FB game vs. Texas A & M tomorrow. Wish us luck. Home game sold out & NOT on TV. I am NOT a happy camper. I told Rich it was the one game I wanted to go to & couldn't get him to commit. I guess it'll be on the radio. Just wish I was gonna be there. Oh well. Wreck em TECH!!

Y'all have a GREAT weekend-wherever, whoever you are. LOL

Mad at the Internet

I had been having terrible wireless connection issues. Our Internet connection would drop off just enough to break the connection then come back on. After a several attempts at fixing it, we thought perhaps we would by a new router. That was several days ago & had not lost our connection ONCE in the past few days. Today it has been a holy terror to do ANYTHING. I don't know if it' is a server issue (which I believe it to be) . I have tried to catch up on my face booking and kept getting error after error there. I decided to come over to Blogger to catch up and cannot post any comments. It just cannot be me. I am just venting.
I need to get off the computer and go to bed anyway. I have my days and nights mixed up again.

My poor DH is working his arse off. He's spending all his time on the trains or at the other end of the line. That gets old REAL fast. He needs to keep working as I just realized it is 3 mos. until Christmas.

Today would have been my beautiful late mother in law's 96th birthday. She passed in January. There are not enough words to convey the love, the strength, the wisdom, the inspiration that this beautiful (and she truly was) imparted on her family. She is well loved and missed mightily. I hope she is heaven feeling no pain. Having cake and a party. I feel her love, guidance & protection smiling down on us all. Richard's equally beautiful 72 yr old sister has found love again. She has been a widow for years. Before her husband passed, he'd had a severe stroke & was totally dependent upon her. She cared for him in their home for years. Nearly breaking her back (and her spirit) as she loaded him in and out of the car, the tub , the chair, etc. He passed then she took care of their mother, driving her to DR appointments, making sure she was getting her groc. & meds and being taken care of. She got little help from any one else. All this time working a full time job. Anyway, Mary (my sis in law) has been dating a retired railroader and she is as giddy as a school girl. I've not seen her so happy, well, EVER. I am praying that this man will be good for her and that if this a match that they have many happy years together. They dine out, they go for drives, they go out DANCING! I LOVE it. I am So happy for her.

ht? Also a quick commentary on the Mackenzie Philips book that came out this past week. Love her or hate her, you have to give her her dues. I believe her story. I can't believe that the poor girl coughed up all this crap about an affair with her father. She & her ghost writers could have come up with it, but I tend to believe. I believe if she wanted to sensationalize her life she could have done it some other way.

Well, it's 5am. Guess I'll call it a day. Or should I call it a night.
Have a good week every one.

That Crazy Drive Home

Any of you who read my blog (which is obviously fewer and fewer as time goes by) know that I have wild & crazy dreams and oftentimes horrible violent nightmares. Well, last night was just a crazy dream. It had a little bit of EVERYTHING in it. It started out with Richard & I taking a walk (something we used to do, but rarely do anymore). After we walked about an hour, we decided to stop in the local watering hole for a drink. Now one thing about my dreams, I was raised in a little town in KS. I live in a fairly good size town in Texas now. So some things take place in KS but are here in Lubbock. The two intermingle often. The bar was in Anthony, but it was in Lubbock. I know-hard to make sense of. Back to the dream. Neither one of us was dressed for an evening out & a lot of our friends were there. They wanted us to eat dinner & party with them. Richard offered to walk home, get changed, get the car, come back & I could run home & change & come back. We weren't that far from home. He should have been gone maybe 45 min. He didn't come back. He was gone an hour. Didn't come back. I take off and walk our usual route and back to the bar. Never saw him. Walked back to our house. My brand new Lexus convertible (which is what I want now, but I know I'm not gettin-LOL) was gone, so I knew he'd been there. I changed clothes, walked back to the bar went in looked the whole place over & there he was back at a huge round table with a bunch of people. When I asked him where he hell he'd been, it was apparent he'd had a lot to drink. He laughed & said "I've been here the whole time! Saw you come in 3 times. I just wanted to see how long you'd look for me." Well, I was pissed, but what good does it do to argue with someone who's drunk. I sat down & had a couple drinks. My brother was there. We all had dinner & were having a pretty good time. I suggested we go back to our house. We had a new house too. (Don't know where that came from as I don't want nor need a huge new house. LOL ) So we are paying out & Richard, dear hubby, says, "Don't get mad, but you probably won't want to drive the car home." Of course I storm out to see what is wrong with it. I see a few little bumps and the rear passenger side & think to myself, that's not so bad. He pulled me back to rear and the whole driver's side & back end were crumpled. I was FURIOUS. Of course my drunk hubby is all apologetic. (He is not a drunk in real life. In fact for him ever to have a beer is a rare occasion because of the random drug testing at his job.) He's pretty funny, and for some reason, I can't stay mad at him. We went back in the bar & the waitress says she can't let any of us drive home anyway, we're all too intoxicated. She said for a quarter a piece she has a safe way to get us home. Of course no one but me has any money. For some reason I have a change purse full of dimes. So I pay 30 cents for every one. The waitress comes back with a steering wheel and screws it into the table. She hits a button and the wall where we're sitting opens like a garage door. The barstools attach to the table and she gives it a shove and we're rolling outside. Now, I've never driven a table home, & I'm asking her how I'm supposed to drive this?! She says "There is no reverse so you will have to turn it all the way around to change directions." When you need to stop, everyone has to drag their feet." I am cracking up. It has to be a joke. Next thing I know I'm driving a 6 foot diameter wooden table Flintstone mobile, with crowded barstools filled with friends and relatives down 82nd Street. A 7 lane major street with a speed limit of 45 mph. Probably going about 20 mph. All the while I'm thinking I must be dreaming. (I was. LOL) We get to this huge house. Gorgeous house. WAY out of our real world league. The evening went on and everyone was swimming, having a good time. My brother, who has a full grown son who is severely autistic, was asked how old Matthew is. Larry said he was 16. (Matt can swim but in the dream was swimming & diving like an Olympian.) I said "Larry, he's 33." Of course he argued with me. LOL I told him that his son & my son Chad were 3 yrs & 3 min apart and Chad JUST turned 36 (THAT is a reality fact.LOL)
Larry didn't have anything to say for a change (not a reality based fact.He ALWAYS has some kinda comeback! ) There were other silly things like the dogs we had (3 large black labs) swimming then jumping in the hot tub. A round bar table parked in a driveway from a town in Kansas at house in Texas.

That is a far cry better than some of the dreams I have been having. Some very disturbing and scary dreams. What I remember most about this dream is that I felt happy and lighthearted...something I am not most of the time. Inside anyway. I can put on a good face.

This cat is driving us nuts. When I got up this morning, all the doors in the house were shut except mine. I heard Calli outside crying to get in. A cold front blew through last night. I think it was about 55 degrees. I guess she thought it was cold. LOL It was a little chilly, but felt SO good. I let her in & she runs straight down the hall to WHAT? Yes. This wasn't a gift. It was what was left of a meal. A massacre. A sparrow....or something that had feathers. UGH. I don't know if she ate all of it or drug in part of it. All that was left was a part & a lot of feathers. OMG. I'm so sick of this. I am afraid she is going to bring in a disease or catch something. It's just too disgusting. Tom is sick of it. I know the girls like the cat, but she won't let you like her. Maybe she should just be a farm cat. Get the girls a kitten they can raise that will love them like they would love her. I don't know.

No pics. Just wishing you a good night/good morning.